Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Only if you take assets from her estate without first paying all the debts of the estate.

The role of Executor is to marshal the assets and pay the debts and then distribute the remainder. You are not liable for her debts personally. Her estate is though so if there is money to pay the debts, you need to pay them. If there is no money or assets, the debt goes unpaid. Mr. McCormick is right, though, if you take the money or assets that could be turned into money from the estate prior to paying the debts, the creditors would have a claim against you as holder of that asset that should have been used to pay them.